The reporter learned today (25th) from Longchang City, Sichuan Province, that the fossils of suspected paleontology found during the construction of the city were confirmed by experts to be dinosaur fossils dating back about 160 million years. This has high scientific research value for the study of phylogenetic evolution, biodiversity, paleogeographic pattern and paleoenvironmental changes of dinosaurs during the Jurassic period.
On October 18, at the construction site of the east second section of Xiangyang Road in Longchang City, workers found that the stone base plate contained fossils suspected of paleontology when cutting stone squares. From October 23 to 24, the Office of the National Paleontological Fossil Expert Committee and the Department of Natural Resources of Sichuan Province organized experts from the Geological Museum of China, the Henan Natural Museum, the Chongqing Geological Survey Institute, the Zigong Dinosaur Museum, the Geological Museum of Jilin University, the Institute of Paleontology of Shenyang Normal University, the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development, and the Sichuan Institute of Land Space Ecological Restoration and Geological Disaster Prevention and Control to investigate and evaluate the site. It has been confirmed that this is a relatively well-preserved small-medium sauropod dinosaur, and it is the first complete dinosaur fossil found in Longchang City.
The fossil is produced in Xiangyang Community 5, Guhu Street, Longchang City, preserved in the lower thick layer of fine-grained quartz sandstone of the early Jurassic Shangshaxi Temple Formation about 160 million years ago, in a spiral shape, estimating its body length of about 10 meters, part of the cervical vertebrae, tail vertebrae and part of the hind limb bones have been removed with the stone, and there are still some cervical vertebrae, dorsal vertebrae, shoulder straps, forelimbs, waist belts, hind limb bones and tail vertebral impressions still remain at the construction site.
According to experts from the evaluation team, although the dinosaur is not large, the structure of the vertebral air cavity is very developed, the cervical vertebrae are short, the tail vertebrae are short and thick, and there is a big difference between the Mamenxi dragons common in the late Jurassic of the Sichuan Basin, and may belong to a new member of the new sauropods that are still relatively rare in China.
At present, the relevant departments of Longchang City have been on duty for 24 hours at the dinosaur fossil discovery site, and the dinosaur fossils that have been excavated have been stored and protected in a centralized and unified manner. After that, Longchang City will carry out the excavation of dinosaur fossils and other related work in accordance with the procedures in accordance with the regulations on the protection of paleontological fossils and the implementation measures of the regulations on the protection of paleontological fossils.
Source: CCTV News